Can reward systems hinder the criminal justice administration

This is a research paper on reward systems and how can they hinder the criminal justice administration. Reward systems are the systems used to reinforce behavior in crime offenders and make them better people. In order for any organization to act upon its members, the formal reward systems should in a positive way reinforce desired behaviors and not be an obstacle that should be overcome. On the other hand Criminal Justice system is a group of organizations dealing with criminology and has greatly helped criminal justice analysts improve on and deal with the crime impact globally with the use of some restorative practices of behavior in justice conferencing. In this system meetings are arranged between the offenders and the victims. Both parties' family and friends are also supposed to be there. In these arranged meetings, they discuss the reasons of the crime and later they come up with the best to way to deal with the situation. On the other hand this involves the general approach of criminal justice in a life situation and this is a well known area all over the world that is mostly practiced and used in law firms (Kerr, 1975). There are however hindrances that reward systems can cause to the criminal justice system and this paper helps elaborate on that.

Introduction

Since 1995, the Criminal Justice system has greatly helped criminal justice analysts improve on and deal with the crime impact globally with the use of some restorative practices of behavior in justice conferencing. In these practices as explained above in the abstract, meetings are arranged between the offenders and the victims. Both parties' family and friends are also supposed to be there. In these arranged meetings, they discuss the reasons of the crime and later they come up with the best to way to deal with the situation. Criminal justice has helped many individuals in societies by shaping people and curbing the rate of crimes globally. We should therefore be able to comprehend what criminal justice is.

What is criminal justice?

Criminal Justice is the ways of treating all people equally, give them their rights and treating them like they are supposed to and deserve to be treated due to their relevant conduct by law. Criminal justice is a people’s rights respecting treatment. For example in many states Good Samaritan laws have been installed to protect doctors who stop to assist for example a stricken motorist. In states without such laws it is common for doctors to refuse to stop for fear of involvement in a law suit. Also In college basketball, additional penalties have been instituted against players who foul their opponents deliberately. It has long been argued by Milton Freidman and others that penalties should be altered so as to make it irrational to disobey the ecology laws and so on.(Cavadino, 2008)

With the criminal justice system, a project known as the BJS-Princeton Project is used and is still been used. The goal of this project is to engage the criminal justice administration in various important debates concerning the suitable measures and methods that can effectively be utilized by practitioners and the policymakers. On the other side there are some areas where these measures can be practiced. (Perrow, 1969)

For example in the article, "War on Drugs", the BJS data shows that drug offenses have now gone much higher than before thus leading to increased imprisonment of such offenders. The BJS data states that the agendas that are discussed by the public legislative are supposed to come up with some measures to reduce crimes.

The criminal justice system is currently undergoing some major transformation as it is trying to meet the demands for criminal justice activities in every year which for instance roughly accounts for 3 cents of every dollar for the all republic spending that are about $74 billion, there is also less than 1.5% of Federal spending and more than 5% of spending by the country and also nearly 7.2% of local spending. The overall or total spending at all parts of government on justice activities is almost equal to the spending on transportation and just below the spending of government on hospitals and health. (Garland, 1959)

The big question in this paper is: How Can Conflicting Rewards Systems Hinder Criminal Justice Administration? It can be through actions like:-

Plea Negotiations and Trials

The public prosecutors are in charge of administration of public justice, and are rewarded by courts and their superiors for handling a huge amount of cases along quickly by plea negotiations and settlement that are due in good time (Kerr, 1973). On the other side, they are subjected to public cries for life sentences and some trials of unwanted defendant’s behaviors. In meeting this demand, a person must be very thorough so as to be rewarded during the by- election and public approval. Making our communities secure doesn’t exactly means achieving low rate of crime. It rather means providing the security to real property, people’s lives and also liberty that is important if the community is to flourish and prosper. It also means enabling citizens to pursue their whole lives as they see fit without any fear of having their lives disrupted or destroyed.

By restoring convicts behaviors, this means to honor the nation’s obligation of making victims of crime and disorder recover and be whole again. This is a good thing since it will change so many lives of the good and those who are bad. The victims’ rights organizations and laws that have been enhanced over the last decade or so and they generally reflect this goal that has long been ignored. (Dulilio, 1991)

Another thing that reward systems hinder criminal justice administration is the fact that victims of crime have special claims on the criminal justice system's financial and human resources. Even if this may be achievable, no other system that does not honor such a kind of claim is considered legitimate and the promotion of other options that are not criminal in nature means that the punishment for criminal behavior should least interfere with the pursuit of good behavior. Even in the prisons in a country, criminal offenders should at least have the opportunity of engaging in meaningful, constructive, and legitimate activities. They should be involved in debates among themselves where they share ideas. They should also be involved in activities like sports and should be made to feel that they have not been forgotten. The government should not make restrictions on employment of crime offenders and other legitimate activities by criminal offenders (that are convicted) only where it has been given as a form of punishment or where the safety of the public is at risk. It is not right to only say that the government is obligated to the betterment of offenders and non offenders alike but also one function of the government is to promote legitimate opportunities and to facilitate their pursuit of a better life. (Herbert 1957))

Investigation and Arrests

The actions of investigations and arrests also show how rewards systems can hinder criminal justice administration. This can be through conflicting law enforcement on investigations on the causes of crime which had been diverted by the criminal justice administration away from community needs. The hindrance of reward systems to the criminal justice administration was that there was high reliance on money which encouraged demand of money from most law enforcers depending on policy requirements like investigations which has designs for the law enforcers which was to be reinforced and could bring in more conflict in the community policy goals. For example when police want to retrieve forfeited drug assets, they will have to make major investigations so as to arrest persons with desirable assets and keep those assets. (Croall, 2009) Law enforcement by policemen whereby there is concentrating on individuals with rich assets can leave other community needs unaddressed.

Sentencing

This is also shows how reward systems can hinder the criminal justice administration. By being cost efficient in prisons, it becomes rewarding since these people in jails receive additional public contracts for housing of the prisoners. There is also public funding which is approved for expanding the prison facilities. However, the policies and programs used to reduce unrest in prisons are expensive and time consuming. They can involve education, treatment of drugs and also job training. That is why administrators in prisons and some agency personnel are been rewarded and receive public appreciation for their contribution to their society. However, their budgets could fall short and also cut drastically. Convicts who have been released from jail also face conflicting rewards and punishment that may prevent their return to the society. For example if one individual has a felony conviction it tends to be difficult for him to get employment, obtain housing, fund for education or even obtain capital for starting a business after getting out of jail. Even someone on probation or parole is required to obtain a job and sufficient housing or risk the possibility of a return to jail. (Kerr, 1973)

Lastly, there is a rights-based theory which has the perception that justice as a process of ongoing property of criminal sanctioning. Criminal justice is hence a value in itself and not a means to an end. Although criminal penalties tend to be more severe from civil ones the death penalty is the most unique in criminal law. Criminal justice thus helps many individuals know their rights and punishments for breaking the law and correct their lives in the case of convicted individuals. Sanctioning can be evaluated in terms of how it affects other values such as wealth, freedom, order and welfare but those are of separate concern. This means that the effectiveness of the criminal justice administration in achieving its goals should be kept separate from the evaluation of the performance of the justice system and should be by doing justice for each of those targets. The main measure of its achievement is the lowering the level of crime in the community. This is true even on other ways of doing things because it refers to maintaining order in prisons and hence curbing crime that these prisoners might have continued committing if they had not been in jail custody. Incapacitation therefore reflects the administration police, the prosecutors, and judges performances who respectively arrest, defend, and pass judgment on crime offenders. (Chester 1964)

It has also been observed that having knowledge on the constitution and the society is been associated with criminal behavior. This hence focuses our attention on the earliest stages of an individual’s daily life and greatly brings us to the conclusion that; boys are the most serious offenders and they usually begin becoming delinquents at a very early age. (Scheff, 1965)